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Sunday, October 06, 2013

Why I read...

My parents were not rich. I didn't succeed even single rupee from
them but I succeeded a rich property from them, ‘my reading habit’. In my
childhood, my elder siblings gifted different books and my mother used to read
all the stuff including newspapers. I had a small cupboard attached to the wooden table. I made a small library with all
stuff. Not so many books, but good books and magazines to read. My village was
so small that we had no library. In schools, we had very small library. Even newspapers
were not delivered. Environment maintained for reading something was discouraging. But my small library with
limited books helped me a lot. I must have read all the books hundred times.
Those books were my friends and mentor too.

Today, I can afford to buy books
and my son is very fortunate that he has all the reading stuff available including
encyclopedia, magazines, books. He like to read all. He knows most of the stuff
which probably his 5th standard peers don’t. Perhaps my son will definitely
recognize me for this rich heritage. I also suggest to my friends, colleagues
and employees in my organization to get books for their children.

Unfortunately people take books only
for putting in show case. During this
week, I was invited by two business schools for
interacting with the students. I spoke on employability and what industries
expect from Management students. I asked common question, “how many student
read any newspaper?” At both colleges and hardly 5-6 students raised their
hands. I asked how many student read book except academic books. Hardly 2-3
students raised their hands.

There are lot of excuses, but
there are people who get time for reading something. Perhaps all the students
will get the job. Perhaps by not reading newspapers and books, they will not mislay
anything. However they will definitely lose the opportunities to excel, opportunities
to learn something extra which may be useful in dealing with difficult
situations in life…

There are two people in this
world, who like reading and who don’t like reading. I have seen people who even
don’t bother to read newspaper. Reading is a habit and it is developed during childhood.
Unfortunately in our education system reading is limited to academicals books.
It is associated to examinations. Students are forced to read and then solve questions
in examination and examination is associated with hidden fear.. fear of failure
in exams so reading itself is dreary for them.

Everything written in books may
not be right, there are some opinions, especially in autobiographies, philosophies
etc., but they give us different perspective and ideas to be used in different circumstances.
For me, books are friends, mentors and coach. If you don’t have anybody to
consult, then books come to your rescue. Authors give you a perspective and sometimes,
it works. Sometimes, it is just fun, but give dose of encouragement and
motivation; sometimes it’s just philosophy but gives you an intellectual strength;
sometimes, it is just knowledge, but helps you to differentiate from others.

Instead of just blindly following to so called
babas, bapus and maas, take some time for yourself and read something. Nothing
to lose, but just gain something.

3 comments:

Dhaarani
said...

nice article on stressing the importance of reading books... yes books will be a good mentor.. i too have the habit of reading books.. In my hard time books give me peace of mind and help me to solve it...........

A very nice posting coming at a time when book reading habit is dwindlingdown thanks to TV, Movies and other diversion that have made a big invasionin every one's lives, to take away the precious moments of reading a book.

Some wise man remarked that Books are your closest friends who do not fight with you !

Hope readers of this forum will take your message and take to books again.

Firstly thanks for your post.you reminded us to read,i agree to your thoughts on how books can be your friends...i have personally experienced it...i realy like to have MY time for reading....knowing all these i could nt take time for reading but after reading your posts i plan to take time to read some stuff which enriches me.